ok so here’s an update from our uber talented video assist + typing fiend at jdk. ross has brought up answers that i wondered about outloud via an earlier post, specifically we’re taking aim at why/how the shutter on canon 5D II’s hd video program controls light + secondly why it stops at 1/30th.
Hey Heath! I’ll take a stab at your first question:
AFAIK the video shutter must be an electronic shutter, meaning that the mechanical shutter is open the entire time, and the image sensor is only “open for business” for the shutter duration. My nikon d40 is able to get down to 1/4000th this way.
The other question is why the shutter speed stops at 1/30th. If I understand your question then it is simple – because the camera needs to shoot 30 frames a second. If it shoots at 1/25th, then it could only shoot 25 frames a second. The only thing the shutter speed controls is what % of that 1/30th of a second the shutter is open for.
and on the same note our man has been kind enough to throw this out for your consumption as well. it’s a beta offering similar to CHDK mentioned back here. wired’s scoop is available as well. haven’t dug in yet myself but that’s what holidays are for right. happy independence everyone, use it well. hard to believe this thing’s been alive two years to the day friday.
good stuff happening all around. here’s a bit of what’s crackin’ from my point of view.
fantastic stuff from artist yellena james – showing in pdx july + august.
live by the numbers + nike+ in the latest wired – interesting concept of working numbers all the time. data, data, data. i’ve seen this taking hold in smaller businesses + specifically in the creative community + it’s good. savings are up everywhere – ever heard of mint?!?!?
can’t wait to catch kathryn bigelow’s new flick the hurt locker.
dropbox – i know it’s just a slicked up ftp widget but damn it’s good.
and finally, sad to see our friend + narrator of my teen years, MJ the king of pop, gone. rip.
great to see friend + former ecuadorian national climbing champ pablo p up in the latest timex ad courtesy of yours truly. nice work mi amigo. this was from a shoot on mt rainier, wa though pablo + i have been lucky enough to work together in his homeland as well.
they’re coming fast + furious these days, which i have to admit i don’t mind a bit. nice to satisfy the inner geek once in awhile. that past two weeks have seen major updates for apple, canon + onone (software manufacturer).
the biggie for the general public is the apple keynote earlier this week from the ongoing worldwide developers conference (WWDC) in sf which let loose new macbooks + safari as well as a new iphone + update. you can watch the keynote yourself here (as if you haven’t already). all in all great stuff, especially as the creative community is always hungry for speed. have to admit though that i was let down with the whopping upgrade in the iphone camera – from 2 mp to 3?!?! not that we need 45mp or something but at this stage one would think it would be a notch or two higher. the video, of course, will be grabbing all the attention anyway so i’m sure there’ll be more camera on the next go ’round. the mobile me upgrade is a damn good call + i’m sure it won’t be seeing much fanfare.
canon had the cojones to give us what we’ve been asking for last week and this is good stuff – full manual control in HD video. now i’ve been running this thru the paces + am much more at home with it than the auto controls. of course i shoot primarily manual with my cameras anyway so this is a natural progression for me. the freedom is well worth the wait. tech wise, i have a grasp on the iso changes + the physical aspects of aperture but what does the !??! does shutter do when working in video + why does it stop @ 1/30th???. you switch the dial up + sure enough get light adjustments but what’s causing that – you’re not changing frame rate or anything? anyone?
last on the upgrade list is onone software with their much trumpeted DSLR camera remote app for the iphone. now i may be an iphone kinda guy but i had trouble getting this to function where i needed it – mainly because it needs a computer connected directly to the camera. for me that doesn’t happen all that often, at least not where we’re dealing with a remote when you can work with pocket wizards or the canon TC-80N3 intervalometer sans computer (or if you’re a real geek). inside, however, this slick interfaced little app did studio work proud especially the live view feature, brilliant, but outside on an ad hoc network i was SOL.
trying to come up with a reason why i should buy the app the one thing i thought of was the possibility of using the intervalometer feature (check the video here) simultaneously with my canon intervalometer. working one camera wide + the other shallow i envisioned a time lapse that could run split screen with both big picture + detail. we’re putting the video together now but suffice it to say that despite setting up my macbook pro mere inches from the largest lake in glacier national park in order to run the iphone app via an ad hoc network i was allowed only a single image. the rest i ran on my own, which in the end wasn’t such a bad workaround.
so tying these three seemingly unrelated updates all together, what might be the best thing now that onone has to update the app for the new iphone 3GS anyway, is to simply drop the computer from the scenario + work with canon to get some type of bluetooth or similar set up in the camera so that the images can be downloaded directly to the phone. better now that apple had provided us 32gb versions as the norm.
“It’s not the strongest of the species,
nor the most intelligent that survive;
it’s the ones most responsive to change.”
–Charles Darwin
i like that. you would darwin would know a thing or two in that direction too. the more i hear on resiliency the more it makes sense to me. as in this article on philly here. though have to admit when even blinking in the direction of adversity good ole joe simpson + his story ‘touching the void’ always sticks in my head.
Paul Stolz, author of the “Adversity Quotient,” shares another reason for thriving or surviving: resiliency. Stolz devotes much of his work to the study of highly resilient organizations and individuals. His research shows that resiliency accounts just as much as intellect and energy for success during tough times.
and one of my favorite stories that puts this all into perspective is of a great aquaintance of mine michael jager of uber agency jdk. the story was featured in a past issue of fast company + plays up the david + goliath angle. regardless of size, etc it’s all about passion/drive/motivation as michael so eloquently demostrated with his work.
outstanding news from the largest camera maker on the planet + something that huge numbers of us out in the field have been pulling for. canon is introducing the first ever full frame DSLR with manual exposure video control in june. this includes aperture, shutter + ISO. absolutely fantastic. and making the deal even sweeter it’s a simple firmware update for the 5D mark II.
if you’ve had the pleasure of shooting with this beast then you know the frustration that video provided in terms of manual control. there were of course workarounds but there’s nothing, regardless of the field, like manual control. in it’s current state it’s a bit like working with handcuffs on – really nice handcuffs but limiting nonetheless. can’t wait to kick out new work with this new package.
we’ve all been there – down, questioning ourselves, directionless – wondering if this is the right path. put that in the context that exists today that (in the words of a long time visual media industry veteran in the bay area i recently spoke with put our industry around a 4 out of 10) + things can seem rough.
regardless, though, of how crazy things may appear i doubt any of us are anywhere near making the $75 million commitment that clifbar founder + owner gary erickson has. believe in yourself, hold fast to what’s important, maintain your integrity + in the words of seth godin be a laser.
great quick read as frog design’s director of product strategy, adam richardson interviews erickson on maintaining vision + values. use your strengths to turn the tables. don’t feel like you need to give in to the the rules of a larger field. more on this via innovator malcolm gladwell in the new yorker. together these two pieces provide a great picture of what it takes to not only stay in business but keep your creativity alive.
so the word is out now + i’m psyched on that as this thing is really getting exciting now. if you don’t know there’s more via earlier posts but we’re putting together a dandy of a week of help for a non-profit this summer.
ASMP just put out a piece on it in their spring bulletin (pg 24).
PDN/photoserve also have a spot up on it here as well. more to come.
and in case you’re on the movie circuit or interested in more on the plight of child soldiers check out the trailer for Emmanuel Jal’s movie Warchild.
“Conventional wisdom says that to be successful, an idea must be concrete, complete, and certain. But what if that’s wrong? What if the most elegant, most imaginative, most engaging ideas are none of those things?” Matt May has answers with Creative Elegance: The Power of Incomplete Ideas.
great portland tunes cranking lately with the thermals.
